Four white men who attacked Black DJ sentenced for federal hate crime in Seattle

Four white men were sentenced in federal court in Seattle Friday for a 2018 assault on a Black DJ in the city of Lynnwood. All four were convicted of committing a hate crime and making false statements. The man they attacked said his life is forever changed.

The defendants are Jason DeSimas of Tacoma, Washington; Jason Stanley of Boise, Idaho; Randy Smith of Eugene, Oregon; and Daniel Dorson of Corvallis, Oregon.

DeSimas and Stanley were each sentenced to four years in prison; Randy Smith was sentenced to 42 months in prison; and Dorson was sentenced to 28 months in prison.

Meanwhile the man they attacked, Tyrone Smith, spoke publicly outside the federal courthouse. “It’s a lot that I’ve lost,” he said.

Smith said the defendants’ actions changed him from an outgoing person who DJ’ed for his friends for fun, to someone who struggles with anxiety and uses a cane to walk.

“As we can all see, it’s been a long road for me,” Smith said. “But I had enough courage to come down and make sure this process was handled and justice was actually served.”

In a victim impact statement, Smith said he suffered a traumatic brain injury in the attack. He wrote that he lost his home and job as a result, and that "I now spend my life dealing with post-traumatic stress, depression, fear, anxiety, pain."

Federal officials said the four defendants admitted to being members of a white supremacist group. They were taking part in a larger white supremacist gathering on Whidbey Island at the time of the attack.

Nick Brown, the U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, said seeking consequences for the attack was a high priority for the Justice Department and the FBI.

“A number of white supremacists targeted him, attacked him, and have forever altered his life,” Brown said. “And whenever we have a case like that, we want to do everything we can to make sure those individuals are held accountable and that we treat hate crimes as the virus that it is.”

Rick Collodi, the FBI’s special agent in charge of Seattle’s field office, said the defendants tried to conceal their actions, but the truth ultimately came out.

“The defendants chose to assault him because of the color of his skin — a crime motivated by hate,” Collodi said. “Hate crimes are the highest priority of the FBI’s civil rights program because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities.”

He said hate crimes can be difficult to investigate because they must demonstrate that the crime was motivated by the offenders’ bias.

“The four defendants admitted to being members of a white supremacist group," Collodi said. "While they have the right to believe what they want, they do not have the right to commit a crime because it doesn’t conform to their worldview.”